University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
The Trust Edge
Book

The Trust Edge

How Top Leaders Gain Faster Results, Deeper Relationships, and a Stronger Bottom Line

David Horsager
Free Press, 2012
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Trust consultant David Horsager, also author of The Daily Edge, defines “trust” as a belief in a person or thing. He explains that trust indicates that a person or a product possesses inherent integrity, even in trying circumstances. Without trust, a business can’t forge new associations, retain employees, or enhance its customers’ regard for its merchandise or services. Horsager offers a thoughtful, practical way to understand why your ability to get others to trust you is your greatest business and personal asset. He enhances his argument with graphics, illustrations and strong formatting. getAbstract recommends this meaningful exploration of building trust to leaders, entrepreneurs, salespeople, HR managers and students of human nature.

Summary

The Importance of “Trust”

Most people value trust over anything else. In the absence of trust, they find it difficult to do anything significant. That includes completing commercial transactions, affecting other people’s opinions, working with other individuals, building the value of the brand or increasing profitability.

John O. Whitney, director of the Deming Center for Quality Management at the Columbia Business School, found, “Mistrust doubles the cost of doing business.” Companies with high degrees of trust had profit levels almost three times above those with low trust. Conditions that encourage commercial transactions require trust and dissipate without it. Businesses can’t forge new associations or boost customers’ regard. Without trust, a firm’s ability to work effectively decreases, and its employee retention suffers.

Defining Trust

Trust is a belief in a person or thing. Being trusted indicates that a person or a product has an inherent integrity even under the most trying circumstances. Strong trust connections are implicit. Your chair doesn’t need to reassure you about its trustworthiness to encourage you to sit down. Similarly, trust in...

About the Author

Writer, businessman, academic and entrepreneur David Horsager also wrote The Daily Edge. An adjunct professor of organizational leadership at Bethel University, he heads Horsager Leadership and studies and speaks on how trust affects performance.

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